No tracking. No cookies
Subscriptions
SubscriptionsColumn / Investigation: Identity, Empire & the Culture War
Byline Times explores the weaponisation of Britain’s past as a key tool in a dark project of division and distraction
-
Kicking Back: Why the Conservative ‘Culture Wars’ Backfired
Jon Bloomfield and David Edgar analyse a historic victory for anti-racism but warn that the ‘War on Woke’ isn’t over and that new alliances are needed
-
The National Trust and the Culture War: A Dissection of Dishonest Journalism as a Tool of the ‘War on Woke’
Again and again, newspapers hounding the heritage body refuse to let facts get in their way, reports Brian Cathcart
-
The Prime Monger: Johnson’s ‘Culture War’ is a Core Part of his Strategic Racism
Martin Shaw explains how Boris Johnson’s racist remarks are far from casual, and that fighting ‘woke’ anti-racism is an essential part of his ethno-nationalist electoral strategy
-
Own Goal: Government Faces the Consequences of its Culture War
In this turning point in the ‘war on woke’ may be the seeds of a new revolution, says Jonathan Lis
-
Raising Racism: Are We Witnessing Progress in How Parliament Discusses Race?
Natasha Livingstone looks at the data around the use of the term in Parliament and explores its importance
-
Englishness Evolves
Otto English charts the different strands of English identity over the years and how a dark turn may now be giving way to something altogether more inclusive, decent and inspiring
-
How Johnson Decries Racism Against Footballers While Implementing Legislation That Fuels a Racist Culture War
Ben Geblum analyses how recent legislation from the Higher Education Bill to the New Plan for Immigration undermines the Government’s recent anti-racist statements
-
Government Accused of Being in Breach of UN Human Rights Obligations on Race
A new report undermines the Government’s claims that systemic racism is not an issue in the UK and that accusations of white privilege is undermining white boys’ educational attainment
-
Vote Leave’s Tearing Up of the Rules Comes Back to Bite its Leaders
The ‘culture war’ waged by Boris Johnson and Priti Patel relies on fear and silence – which is why Tyrone Mings’ intervention has been so powerful and unprecedented, says Sam Bright
-
A Pitched Battle: Johnson and Patel’s Culture War Flaw Finally Exposed
Peter Jukes and Hardeep Matharu argue that the racist abuse targeted at England’s black players has revealed why the Government’s attacks on ‘wokeism’ will not ultimately win out
-
Extinguishing Political Fire and Fury: Kim Leadbeater and the Lessons of Keir Hardie
Reverend Joe Haward reflects on the Batley and Spen by-election, and the necessity for a more compassionate political climate
-
Euro 2020: Football Cuts Through Westminster Deception to Reveal England’s Real Soul
Sam Bright explores why the Euros, like the 2012 Olympics, has revealed a more tolerant, unified country than vocal voices on the right aim to depict otherwise
-
The Desperate ‘Deep Woke’ Attacks on Southgate’s Squad Speak for Themselves
The England football team, under its exceptional manager, has come to embody tolerance, fairness and unity, says Gary Gowers
-
From George Orwell to Priti Patel: How Britain Brought its Colonial Policing Home
As the Metropolitan Police is judged to be institutionally corrupt, Hardeep Matharu and Peter Jukes explore how some of the biggest problems still plaguing British policing are embedded in the soil of British colonialism
-
The Batley Battleground: A Microcosm of England’s Fractured Political Climate
The divisive, hostile forces that have plagued politics in recent years are now running wild in the West Yorkshire constituency, says Sam Bright
-
The Brexit Project’s Appropriation of the ‘Left Behind’
Five years after the EU Referendum, Sam Bright considers how perceptions of Brexit-voting areas have been warped by radical right-wing forces
-
Selective Free Speech: Academics Discussing Race Face the Real Cancel Culture
Black, Asian and ethnic minority academics and university staff increasingly encounter a ‘cancel culture’ when discussing race – as the usual free speech advocates stay silent, Sian Norris reports
-
Education Committee Consulted Experts who have Dismissed White Privilege and Condemned ‘Feminist Zealots’ for New Report
MPs’ report on the disadvantages faced by white working-class pupils received submissions from people who call discussions of privilege ‘woke dogma’ and believe diversity drives are ‘racist’
-
Free Speech: A Beginner’s Guide for Oliver Dowden
The Culture Secretary says he won’t allow Stop Funding Hate to undermine freedom of expression but sadly he just does not understand the concept, says Brian Cathcart
-
Colston Reconfigured: A Fulcrum for Future Understanding
Hannah Charlton explores what the journey of the statue of a Bristol slavetrader is revealing about the wider historical moment the country finds itself in
-
When Truth Matters More: The Case for Scrutinising GB News
We cannot simply ignore the new network, contends Sam Bright
-
Our Young England Players are Using their Privilege to Make a Difference
Footballers have shown that wealth and fame do not have to stand in the way of campaigning for equality and justice, says Nathan O’Hagan
-
God Save the Queen: Still Jousting in the Junior Common Room
Otto English doesn’t think the latest skirmish in the culture wars is a ‘dead cat’ but shows a generation of politicians bereft of ideas and obsessed with campus politics
-
The Euros Present Another Chance for Conservatives to Advance their Culture War
Shane Thomas explores how notions of race, Englishness and football could be weaponised by the Prime Minister during Euro 2020
-
Britain’s Airbrushed History and Its Aversion to Protest
An institutional ignorance towards past protests informs Britain’s modern day antipathy towards radical dissent, says Shafi Musaddique
-
‘At Least the Nazis Kept the Lights On’: Brexit Amnesia Airbrushes Out Genocide in the Channel Islands
Yesterday the Channel Islands celebrated Liberation Day. Ben Gidley explains the grim realities of starving islanders and concentration camps
-
Free Speech or Hate Speech: Internal Home Office Report Exposes Britain’s Hate Crime Problem
A previously unreleased document lays out the realities of discrimination in modern Britain
-
The ‘White Working-Class’ and ‘Woke Capitalism’: Fake Constructs in the Right’s Cultural War
Jon Bloomfield and David Edgar deconstruct the nationalist-populist conspiracy narratives that seek to divide and rule
-
Calling Out Press Racism: Has Anything Changed?
Six weeks after the bust-up at the Society of Editors, we are still waiting for evidence that racism in the media will be confronted, says Brian Cathcart – the onus is on the editors of the Guardian and Financial Times to stand up and show leadership
-
‘Most British Institutions Pander to the Mail’s Blackmailing and Racism’
As attacks by right-wing tabloids on female academics intensify, Sian Norris explores why they appear to be able to publish such material with impunity
-
Race Report: Sewell Commission Couldn’t Find Something It Wasn’t Looking For
The methodology used by the Commission on Racial and Ethnic Disparities excluded the possibility of finding that differences in outcomes are the result of race, says Jonathan Portes
-
Race Report: Recommendations will ‘Insulate Government from any Potential Criticism on Future Policy’
While many agree with a recommendation to disaggregate the term ‘BAME’, the director of the Institute of Race Relations warns that this aims to create a new set of norms about how race and racism are conceptualised – and to divert attention away from structural racism
-
Race Report: Moving Away from ‘BAME’ Could Make Research into Structural Racism ‘Impossible’, Experts Warn
A recommendation to disaggregate the term ‘Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic’ risks creating a ‘league table’ of stigma of different minority groups, say campaigners and academics
-
British History’s Brutish Imperialism has Become a Global Talking Point
John Lubbock explores how the restitution of looted historical artefacts is being navigated by cultural institutions around the world
-
Race Report: A Deeply Cynical Exercise in Distraction
Maheen Behrana explores the sinister motivations behind a Government-commissioned report which has found that institutional racism in Britain does not exist
-
Race Report: The Government Marks Its Own Homework Again
Brian Cathcart provides his analysis of today’s report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, which found that institutional racism does not exist in Britain
-
‘Diversity’: A Smokescreen Not A Solution
As Buckingham Palace conducts a ‘diversity review’, Hardeep Matharu explores how the focus on ‘opportunity’, minority recruitment drives and Boris Johnson’s ‘most diverse’ Cabinet actually sidesteps the issue of tackling systemic racism in Britain today
-
The ‘Phantom Threat’: University Free Speech Policy Only Based on ‘Small’ Amount of Evidence, Government Admits
Sam Bright unpicks the evidence, relied on by ministers, for their new clampdown on academic institutions
-
Huw Edwards, His Flag and How the BBC’s Appeasement of its Enemies Backfired
The corporation’s biggest mistake was to court and give a platform to extreme voices, says former BBC journalist Patrick Howse
-
Get the Bunting Out for Bonkers Britain 2021!
Otto English provides his assessment of how a country became consumed by a flag and lost its mind
-
Strongman Politics and Culture Wars Purposefully Derail All Chances of Progress
In the past week, the police was deployed as an instrument in Boris Johnson’s increasingly authoritarian agenda, argues Maheen Behrana
-
Incarcerated by Myths: The Meghan and Harry Affair Has Exposed the Fact-Free Press
The distortion of truth, for political and commercial gain, underpins the British newspaper industry, says Sam Bright
-
Beyond the Masquerade: The Real Powers Behind the Hollow Crown
Hardeep Matharu explores how the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have exposed the real power structures in Britain – now in full destructive, neo-imperial retreat
